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Every senior is familiar with the situation: You come back ten minutes early from your off-campus free period, and are forced to wait in front of the metal detectors until the next bell rings. You engage in a brief back-and-forth exchange with the security guards: “But there are only ten minutes left anyway! What difference does it make?” But in the back of your mind, you know there’s no way you’re getting in before those ten minutes are up. So until the next bell rings, you’re stuck at the entrance, wondering: Why, Wilson?

The rule stating that seniors with free periods can’t re-enter the building during a free period is one of many measures aimed at combating Wilson’s chronic issue of having too many students wandering the school without designated places to be. “There was way too much activity in the building,” Principal Kimberly Martin said. “We’d get a report like, ‘I think someone’s smoking in this bathroom,’ ‘I think that there’s kids in this hallway,’ ‘there’s kids sitting in this hallway and they’re too loud and I can’t teach my class.’” The administration has attempted to control Wilson students’ chaotic nature by, most notably, establishing the Tiger Cafe and preventing re-entry into the building between 3:25 and 3:45.

The rule was put in place three years ago, the first of two consecutive years during which juniors were allowed to have free periods or internships. Curiously, however, there seems to be some ambiguity surrounding who initially proposed it. Each administrator I talked to seemed to have a different recollection, or lack thereof, of the meeting in which the rule was formed. If more information concerning the rule’s foundation comes to light, it is very possible that The Beacon will publish a follow-up to this month’s “Why Wilson?” in a future issue.

For now, though, Wilson seniors can expect to keep waiting for the bell to let them into the building after their free periods. At the very least, frustrated seniors can be consoled by the fact that, if they really need to get re-enter the building early, a note from a teacher or administrator should do the trick.